City: Bengaluru

In recent years, a number of Bengaluru’s lakes got a second chance at life by undergoing extensive renovations, which has left them pristine and healthy ecosystems. But the work is not over yet. The newly rejuvenated lakes require a lot of maintenance to ensure their survival. And most of the times, all of this is put on the shoulders of community lake groups made up of passionate citizens. For many groups the hard work is just getting started, as they must raise a continuous amount of funds, fight encroachment and petition for improvements to solve sewage problems that continue to…

A few months into my first job as reporter in The Times of India, Bangalore, in the 1990s, Gauri joined the desk, on transfer from the Delhi office. “Hello, mari..” (that's Kannada for pet, or little one) she said, and gold-flecked brown eyes twinkled with the promise of much mischief, great humor and the thrill of a million little rebellions. Gauri wasted no time in taking charge, and now I had two shoulders to cry on, which I did a lot of in those days, for the same reasons that most 23-year-olds need a shoulder to cry on that is…

Bengaḷūru, today, is bursting at its seams trying to provide for a population well beyond the capacity of its infrastructure. One would assume any proposed remedy would refer to planning methods adopted in the early settlements and respond to the city’s unique topography. Instead, the authorities concerned seem to have divorced themselves from local wisdom as they go about creating land parcels catering to commercial, and opportunistic interests, ignoring heritage and ecology. A few years ago, when I started my research on Bengaḷūru, the journey took me to the oldest labyrinths of the city, the past reached out across the…

Over the last few years, many of Bengaluru’s lakes have gone through rejuvenation processes as described in the first part of this series, that completely transforms and restores lakes to beautiful common areas and thriving ecosystems. Behind every lake is a group of community members pushing for rejuvenation, government assistance or simply rolling up their sleeves and getting their hands dirty in an effort to save a lake. Transforming a dead or dying lake is no small feat. Many hands have their stake in the rejuvenation. For many lakes, the rejuvenation process is a result of local community members and…

A decade ago, sewage flowed where water once did, in the lakebed of Bengaluru’s Puttenahalli Lake. Today it is 13-acres of clean water, a diverse ecosystem and a peaceful area for community members. It is a shining example of a successful lake rejuvenation, a movement more complicated than it may seem. Apart from being public commons and beautiful displays of nature, lakes are essential for groundwater recharge and rainwater collection, important to Bengaluru especially in the days of water shortage. Rain water canals connect lakes to each other, thus lakes end up sinking a lot of groundwater, while excess of…

Property buyers often fall victim to unscrupulous real estate developers; hence there is a need for real estate development to be regulated. This is what the Real Estate Regulatory Act (RERA) intends to do. On Saturday, 19th August 2017, I attended an interactive Question and Answer session on RERA. IAS Officer Kapil Mohan, the Principal Secretary, Housing Board, Government of Karnataka, and also Interim Authority of RERA, was part of the panel. The event was organised by the National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO), Karnataka chapter, on  the Karnataka State Billiards Association premises. It was attended by many real estate…

I’m not quite sure why I chose to volunteer at the Dastkar Mela. There was this exhibition held between 11th and 20th August 2017, at Manpho Convention Centre, Spectrum Grounds 1 & 2, near Nagawara in Bengaluru. But nobody else I knew was volunteering, so it wasn’t as though I’d get to have a fun filled day with friends. The only reason I can think of now, is that when I got to hear about the mela, I was relaxing after a long, tiring shopping spree at the mall. Seeing attendants busily arranging displays, putting clothes back on racks, and…

If you Google ‘traveling to India’, you’ll be flooded with blog posts written by Americans or Europeans discussing their “spiritual journey to India”, “how to overcome Delhi belly” and “advice to avoid being scammed”. But what does not often pop up on your search results are blogs and perspectives from anyone with a darker skin tone than white. There are blogs upon blogs written by white women traveling to India for one reason or another who share their stories of first impressions, challenges, advice on what to wear, how to eat and what to say. There is a never ending…

BBMP’s outsourced garbage contract system failed continuously to deliver and rampant corruption and malpractices the order of the day. Yet the Council has again proposed that the tenders be called for again, supporting the comeback of contractors! As explained in Part 1, the stranglehold of the BBMP Council on the implementation of effective waste management, therefore, still continues, leading to a virtual paralysis in the SWM delivery and implementation. No new SWM proposals have been passed by the Council in the last five months and status quo is being maintained. This is a testimony to the lack of willpower to…

Karnataka Legislative Assembly elections are just a year away, and it’s time for residents in Bengaluru to register themselves in the electoral rolls. In Mahadevapura Legislative Assembly Constituency that is home to a large number of migrant population in the Information Technology and other sectors, it’s a huge challenge to get people registered in electoral rolls and make them vote in elections. Citizens in Whitefield and surrounding areas in Mahadevapura have come up with an initiative to fix this problem. Million Voter Rising, a campaign by Whitefield Rising, aims at enrolling at least one lakh voters to the electoral rolls…